Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Lately, with the likes of Rick Santorum collecting the majority of Oklahomans' votes in the Republican presidential primary, Senator James Inhofe publishing his book on "the hoax" that is global warming; the half-assed Affordable Health Care Act, which even as flawed as it is could not gain enough approval to stay out of the cluches of the Supreme Court - I feel more than ever a stranger in a strange land.

Some days, when feeling mellow, I tell myself that, had I emigrated to a country in, for instance, the Far East or Africa, I'd have found there a vastly different culture from that I'd experienced for most of my life. I wouldn't have found it surprising, I wouldn't have felt the urge to complain about what I might have considered the peculiar, illogical, unfair or unjust aspects of it. I'd have simply told myself, "this is what it is, put on your big girl panties and deal with it!" But coming to the USA, where they use the same language (well - almost), and roughly similar customs, it's difficult to accept the different cultural mindset I find here in Oklahoma, and in neighbour state Texas.

Maybe it's not the USA or even Oklahoma at fault - maybe it's me. Maybe it's my Aquarius Sun, or my Aries Moon in conflict with Oklahoma's Scorpio statehood sign, or the USA's strong Cancerian links. I do have Cancer rising though.....

Don't know....

Stranger in a Strange Land? Someone wrote the book.

Stranger in a Strange Land, a science fiction novel by a master of that genre, Robert Heinlein. Overview of plot from Spark Notes

Humankind sends its first human expedition to Mars. The spaceship's crew arrives on the planet and are never heard from again. Twenty-five years later, another mission is sent, and the child of two of the first ship's crew-members, who has been born on Mars and raised by the peculiar Martian race, is discovered and brought back to Earth. Because of various legal precedents, Valentine Michael Smith, the Man from Mars, is the inheritor to a vast fortune, and because of another precedent Mike has a claim to legal ownership of the planet Mars. Therefore he has the potential to be massively influential in matters of Earth politics... Mike slowly teaches his body to adapt to the Earth's atmosphere and he begins learning Earth culture and language, which differ enormously from Martian ways of thought.

"The country and culture commonly known as "America" had had a badly split personality all through its history. Its overt laws were almost always puritanical for a people whose covert behavior tended to be Rabelaisian; its major religions were all Apollonian in varying degrees---its religious revivals were often hysterical in a fashion almost Dionysian."

"Come Judgment Day, we may find that Mumbo Jumbo the God of the Congo was the Big Boss all along."

"I've found out why people laugh. They laugh because it hurts so much . . . because it's the only thing that'll make it stop hurting."

"God made alcohol and he made feet - and he made 'em so you could put 'em together and be happy!"

16 comments:

Anonymous
said...

GP: Small consolation, T - I am an emigre' too and sometimes wondered about why to adapt to Brazilians (very easy going people, except for their `portuguese type of bureaucracy`) was never easy for me.

Astrologically I have a majority of my planets on the Western half of my chart, and so do you. Mark Edmund Jones sais with respect to such charts, that we will have to rather eat on table d`ho^te then a' la carte. My new donkey (imported from the USA ) does not spell french or spanish/portuguese correctly).

If you feel like a stranger up there in Oklahoma, enjoy it. Most Americans I know are so provincial that for them you must be a `true delight`...

Anonymous/Gian Paul ~ You have the language difference to deal with also, GP - which would be a difficulty for me, yet in another way it would act as a kind of cautionary reminder that things really ARE different. Such a cautionary element is missing for Brits in the USA. I dare say that some are better equipped to blend in than others though.

I suspect that "true delight" is not the description most here would attach to me if aware of my political non-religious and pro-astrology views! "Weirdo" more likely - which fits my sun sign, and my re-located ascendant (also Aquarius).

GP: Don`t necessarily believe what `they` say about storms etc. I have one of my old computers being converted to UBUNTU. It`s mostly oriented to business and works all the time , storm or no storm...

I am glad not having cut trees around here to install a (pirate) antena with radio internet. Mac has solved the problem. We are such victims of mainstream commerce and propaganda, that when those guys pass away, I trust, they risk not even finding a place in hell, so crowded it likely will be! (and getting hotter all the time).

Anon/Gian Paul ~~ We receive internet connection via a cable network that does seem to be sensitive to storms, whether here or in other networked locations. An electrical surge this morning even knocked out my surge protector, too. Am using a spare until we can replace the stronger unit.

I think a lot of Americans feel like a stranger in a strange land: we spend most of our adult lives scrambling to pay the mounting bills and the rest unlearning the lies were told in what passed for public education which believe it or not was better than it is now. By the time you realize you're royally screwed you're too old and tired to do anything about it but bemoan your fate. Bit sad, ain't it? Still I think there will be a lot of pissed off Americans this unusually warm spring [along w/the tornados] and on into the summer. Whether or not they will be able to accomplish anything better remains to be seen. FWIW they have my best wishes.

Diane ~~ Thanks for your thoughts on this. I'm not surprised that some native-born USA-ans have similar feelings to my own too - those who remember better times here.

The guys and gals of OWS have my sincere good wishes too. They are fighting for a future that I will likely not be sharing - but I still hate to think of the very nasty way things could be for them by the time they are my age, if something isn't done during the next few years.

You are not alone T, particularly in Blogland where us kindred spirits find each other. I am consistently astonished at the number of USians who are appalled at what is taking place in their name. And I do meet some of the escapees here. But not for long will we be "glorious and free" with Harper at the helm.and Britain and Ireland are in no great shape either.XOWWW

No, Twilight, it's definitely not you! Spend a few moments reading through the comments I received on my Sparrow Chat post concerning the Zimmerman/Martin case, and you'll realize how dumb and uneducated many young Americans are today. The American Dream is no more than brainwashing and propaganda.Sometimes I just want to pack up and go back home to my beloved Wales. Then I look at what's happening back there, and think - what's the point?

Wisewebwoman ~~~ Yes, I doubt I could survive here without the internet.

From what I read Canada and the UK are not far behind - only thing is, there (in the UK anyway) the spread of politically insane (to our way of thinking) inhabitants is more scattered rather than concentrated in large areas where a body can feel isolated.

I have noted during my wanders through many comment threads on political blogs that there are many, many people commenting, and writing articles, who appear to be simply deluded, blind to reality, in a way far more distinct than just the left-right divide - which occurs in all countries to some extent.

Yes, the UK is in a bit of a downward spiral also, from what I can pick up reading here and there. Haven't been back since 2005. I have no longing to return, or even visit, as things are.

I'd like to catch a glimpse of a light at the end of the tunnel here though - but, sadly, Oklahoma is the last place in which that light will shine. ;-(

If it's any consolation, Twilight, I was born here and I feel like a stranger in a strange land -- and feel like the odd-man out, more and more, as time passes by. I haven't changed, though...the country's just gone so far right of my sensibilities and politics.

I chuckled at your remark about the language similarities between the U.K. and here. When I lived in Oklahoma, I felt many of their native speakers could have been eligible candidates for ESL classes. ;-)

Jefferson's Guardian ~~ Hi!Yes, the country must have changed, as you say. The people have "boiled into it" like the frog sitting in a pot of cold water being gradually heated slowly so the creature hardly notices. I probably jumped in around the time the bubbles were just starting to rise with things getting uncomfortable. ;-)

LOL - re the Okie accent! I do rather like the local accent, it's just what goes with it I often find unpleasant. ;-)

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About Me

Also answers to Ann or Annie or even Twilight Annie (sounds like a character from Dickens - or Damon Runyan!)
British-born, living in the USA since 2004, US citizen since 2008.
Self-taught non-professional dabbler in astrology, which took up most of the blog-space here from Aug. 2006 to Aug. 2012. The blog now covers more general topics, along with occasional astrology- related posts. Archives can be accessed easily via links in the sidebar.